RESIDENT EVIL: Eyes Of Innocence
by ENZIK
Summary: 17 year old, Clive Owens moves to Racoon City to attend college, just as the events of RE23 begin to take place. Will he be able to survive? R&R please.
1. Prologue: A New Life

Disclaimer: I am a simple fan of Resident Evil, writing a simple fanfic. I do not own any of the media characters that appear in this story, only the main character/narrator.  
  
A/n: This is my first shot at a Resident Evil fic, and my first shot at a first person perspective so please, go easy in your reviews, and no flaming, please.  
  
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"Dear, Mr. Owens. We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to attend our college at Racoon University--"  
I read the rest of the letter with a smirk on my face. If there was one thing I looked forward to, it had to be college. Your own room, new friends, and the further advanced education than that of a high school. Call me a nerd but education is one of the most important things to me. It used to be THE most important thing before the chaos happened. The incident that happened within a few days of me arriving at my destination and settling in. A nightmare that was going to change my life forever. But let me start from the beginning.  
  
I folded up the letter and stuck it in the envelope as I got up from my whicker chair which was accompanied by similar outside furniture items, and walked through the front door of my home in Melbourne, Florida and into the living room where my dad, an aging man of 65, sat watching TV. Without saying a word, I did like I usually did when I recieved a paper that gave good news. I tossed it into his lap for him to look at for himself. The feeling of the envelope brushing against his hand which rested on his knee, drew his attention away from his 'Gunsmoke' show that he watched every day at 5:00. It was like a weekday ritual. He looked down at the envelope, picked it up and as he read the label, he spoke.  
  
"What's this?" He asked in his thick, southern accent that originated from Georgia as he pulled the paper out of the envelope and unfolded it to read. It took him a few minutes to finish, but patience stayed with me as I was used to it. I hear your body slows down with age, so I guess the speed you read at does too. When he had finally finished reading a small smile came across his face as he lowered the paper into his lap and looked up at me from behind his eyeglasses. "Well, no shit?" He asked, still with his glad expression. I simply shook my head, and repeated in an answering tone, 'No shit.' He gave a soft laugh, got up, and hugged me tight then looked at me and nodded to the door across from the living room. "Go tell yer brother." I gave a brief nod before I turned and walked over to the door that lead to my brother's room, which was directly, a couple feet across from mine. I tried the door first. It was locked, so I knocked.  
  
"What?" My brother's tired voice sounded from the otherside, and I knew he had been sleeping upon getting home from work. My brother works at the cable company, with our mom. The only difference is, he does installations while she handles customer service. He used to serve in the military but after some long years he decided to move from North Carolina back to our hometown with us. He's 31 years old and just about twice my size if you count height and physical build. Anyway, back to the point.  
  
"Vaughn, let me in." He said, placing my knuckles on my hips as I waited for him to open the door.  
  
"What for?" He called back.  
  
I rolled my eyes. "Just open the door, dumbass." I probably shouldn't have said that, I thought and expected him to open the door and pull me into some feinted sleeper hold for my 'insult.' Instead, he just opened the door, rubbing his eyes, still dressed in his work uniform minus his socks.  
  
"What?" He asked, tiredly and I stuck the envelope up under his nose for him to take. He took it from me and, for the third time the letter was pulled from the envelope and read. The contents of it, put a smile on my older sibling's face and the next thing I knew I was pulled into a tight hug. Tighter than what my father had given me. "Good job man, I'm glad you made it!." Vaughn exclaimed and offered a hand out for me to slap, which I did, smirking to myself still at my accomplishment.  
  
Later that night when my mom got home, she had the same reaction of excitement and smothered me with motherly kisses and damn near hugged the life out of me. She thought it customary to call as much of the family as possible. My dad said that was 'Yankee' custom. See, my mom's from New York so go figure she'd be excited I was going to college in her home state. Some of my friends told me that the marriage of a southerner and a northener was weird. Most of the time I didn't think it was but at times like this I did. It was always funny to me when my mom and dad would make up excuses for odd things the other did. We were a strange family afterall. A 65 year old father from Georgia, a 54 year old mother from New York and two sons, born and raised in Florida, at ages 31 and 17. Talk about an age difference. So there was my mom, calling everyone, my aunt and uncle in Texas, my aunt and uncle up in some other Florida town, I can't really recall the name now, my aunt and uncle in Tennessee, and all my other aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews which by some odd chance were older than me, from my dad's first marriage, which brought in Vaughn and mine's other brother who was even older than Vaughn. He lived up in Georgia where he was born and his name was Tommy. He was the junior of my father, his name being Tom.  
  
I departed from home two weeks later which would give me some time to settle in before the first semester started. My leave was like something out of an old movie. My family outside, helping me load things into my blue blazer which my dad had owned before me, only then it had been red and didn't have a cd player installed into it. I loaded in everything I thought I'd need, and due to my addiction to cyberworld, that included my computer and game console. I hugged and kissed my family goodbye and got on the road to drive to New York. That is if I didn't misread the map and got lost. Luckily I didn't, and made it there safe and sound. But when I did arrive it wasn't like I expected. What I thought would be a comfortable, happy town, was filled with panic and suspicion. Stories and rumors of cannibalistic murders that started two months ago in the woods near an area called the Arclay Mountains and a 'Spencer Mansion' were frequently mentioned and according to the residents of Racoon City, the murders were drawing closer and closer and had finally reached the inside of their home area, across town. At the time I didn't expect anything drastic. 'Surely it's just a crazy gang of psychos or something.' I thought. 'The police will take care of that. It's none of my business.' But very soon after, it became my business. Infact it became everybody's business. It was then, that the chaos began. My world took a turn for the worse, and I was surrounded by horrific events. My name is Clive Owens, and this is my story. This is my 'nightmare', through eyes of innocence..  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------- A/n: Not the best prologue in the world but it's the best I could come up with. PLEASE R&R and tell me if it's worth continuing. I'm really trying hard to make a good story here. Thanks. 


	2. Chapter 1: Being Absent, Recent Events

Monday, September 26th. 8:30 A.M  
'Wait a second. 8:30?! I'm late!' I jumped out of bed and ran fast to the bathroom to get a quick shower. I felt like a complete idiot. My first day of college and I was already a half hour late. It would probably grow into an hour by the time I was ready. I showered as fast I could, getting out in such a hurry I almost slipped on the wet floor. I picked out random articles of clothing to wear. With as much haste I was moving at, I was surprised the pants and shirt matched. I pulled them on fast, even falling over when I tried to get the jeans on, pulled on my shoes, jacket, grabbed my Marlins cap, keys, book bag and hurried out the door of my apartment and into my truck.  
  
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" I screamed as I banged one fist on the dashboard while driving. I didn't notice that I was going well over the speed limit in order to not waste anymore time in getting to class. I think the speed limit was 40mph. I don't know exactly what my speed was but I could tell it was well over that. My mother always warned about the many dangers of speeding on a highway. Today I would encounter the one she was most worried about me getting into. I didn't notice the light was red. I didn't notice the eighteen wheeler coming from the side. My ears were rocked by a loud thundering crash, and pain struck every inch of my body. I blacked out.  
  
I'm not sure how long I was unconcious. I opened my eyes slowly, groaning in pain as feeling returned to my body, and I felt my wounds. There was pain in my head, around my ribs and in my left arm and shoulder. I felt too much pain to make any movement in the arm or to raise my head. I just lay there and groaned again. I caught sight of my clothes hanging up in a closet. I moved my other arm which wasn't as badly damaged and felt my chest. There was a soft fabric, obviously a hospital gown. An hour or so passed before someone finally came in. During that time, I had my attention on a news channel on the TV above the foot of my bed. I couldn't quite point out what the reporter was talking about with the throbbing in my head. Something about 'brutal murders', 'disappearances', 'cannibalistic gang' and 'stars survivors.' 'Stars survivors'? I thought. 'What the hell is this idiot talking about?' Well as I said, I watched this for only about an hour before I heard my door open. My eyes drifted over towards it and I saw a young woman with ebony hair, similar to mine, dressed in a light green uniform walk in and approach me, carrying a tray which gave off an aroma that told me it must have been time for patients to recieve their meals. I wasn't sure which of the three meals it was. She set the tray down infront of me and removed the top while she greeted me kindly.  
  
"Hi. It's good to see you're awake." She said in a soft, gentle tone as she mashed a button on the side of the bed, raising it so that my position resembled that of sitting up. "Are you hungry?"  
  
I replied with a feint sign of pain in my voice. "I could eat something I guess...." then I asked. "How long was I out?" She told me three hours, not bad for someone in an accident like I was in. She told me everything that had happened. I went past a red light and was hit by a semi. I asked if the other driver was alright. He was. Some stitches in his forehead and he was sent home. "But you," she added, "could be in here for a week at the most." I cursed silently. 'So much for a good start at college' I thought. We talked for awhile, passing time, while she took the liberty of feeding me my lunch. I had a question burning a hole in my brain so I decided to get it out.  
  
"Nurse.." I began.  
  
"You can call me Mary." She said smiling and fed me some more rice.  
  
"Mary," I said, after swallowing. "What's wrong with this town?" I thought back of when I first arrived at Racoon City. The streets were nearly deserted accept for a few worried looking people edging along the streets. Did it have something to do with the gang of cannibals and the disappearances of people? Mary looked at me and set the fork down, and took a deep breath as if the question bothered her, but nonetheless, she told me the story.  
  
"There's been some odd cases around here lately." She began. "Two months ago some agents from the police department returned from a mission with some stories about man-eating creatures, creatures that they couldn't kill. Mutants or something." I sat back and listened as she went on and on and on. Nobody believed the agents, or S.T.A.R.S members as Mary said they were called. 'So thats what the reporter on TV must have meant by 'stars'. And now the murders were expanding from the mountains and into town but no one had been arrested. I asked Mary if she believed the whole mutant and monster thing. She didn't. No one did, as she said before. They thought the survivors from the mission were just plain mad.  
  
"So more people are disappearing every day and more murders are turning up?" I asked. "Why don't they put up a barrier to keep people away from harm?"  
  
Mary shook her head. "They did. But things are still happening. The police department thinks that the gang or gangs have moved into the town now. They started out in the forest but now, their boundaries are seemingly growing. There aren't even any more bodies being found, just disappearances. That's why everyone's keeping out of the streets. We're all afraid."  
  
"You're not at home though." I pointed out, trying to lighten the mood. Mary smiled and simply replied how people with jobs still needed to go to work to make a living.  
  
After a bit more time of chit chat, Mary had to get back to work. I'd eaten all of my lunch and was growing tired again. She ran a gentle hand through my wavy black hair and bidded me good night. I smiled and rested my head against the pillow again, relaxing as she lowered the bed back to a flat posture. Then she walked out of the room and closed the door, leaving me alone again. Little did I know, it would be the last time I would ever see Mary again....alive.  
  
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A/n: I hope this is a good start on the story. If anyone who's an expert on Resident Evil notices any error in the time settings, please review and let me know. I'm trying to place Clive's arrival close to the beginning of the third game since it's actually a prequel to the second. I hope you all like it so far. R&R please. Thank you. 


	3. Chapter 2: All alone, The walking dead

September 27th. Morning. Time unknown.  
I opened my eyes drowsily and sat up in my bed. The pain wasn't as bad anymore but it still hurt a little bit to move. My room was different somehow. It took me awhile to realize, until my vision cleared from the sleep. The lights were out, and there was no sign of light out in the hallway either. It was also dead quiet. It gave me an uneasy feeling. I winced and sucked in a deep breath as I shifted to get out of bed, and placed my bare feet on the cold tile floor, stood up, and with a hand on my wrapped ribs, I walked slowly, almost limping, over to the door and opened it slowly. There was no light inside from the actual electricity. All light that existed came from the sun shining in through the windows, and that itself wasn't much but enough to basically see. Still, there was no sign of life, except for myself.  
  
"H-hello?!" I called out, hesitantly. My voice traveled throughout the halls in an uneasy manner, and I became uncomfortable. I stepped back into my room and closed the door. I tried the light switch, and sure enough, no power. I stepped over to the closet and pulled out my clothes, hanging up neatly. They had a few small tears in them and some blood stains, but they had been washed, I could tell. I stripped off the gown and redressed, sliding my shoes and jacket on after I had applied my shirt and pants. I found my cap on the upper shelf. I didn't feel like leaving without it, as it represented my home, so I plucked it off the shelf and put it back on my head, the way caps were normally worn, brim facing forward. Then I stepped out of the room again, this time, fully out into the hallway and looked around, yet again, no sound of anyone. My first instinct was a gut feeling to get out of there, so I made for the stairs, assuming that if the power was out, then there'd be no use in trying the elevators.  
  
I found the doorway to the stairs and started my way down. I felt like being slow and quiet for some reason. The thought that my sneakers on the steps echoing didn't seem pleasant to me. Something was wrong. Very wrong. What put the hospital like this in just one day? Did it have something to do with the strange cases going around, I wondered? But I didn't know. All thanks to my slow progress of descending the staircase, it took me awhile to get from my floor, Floor 14, until I reached the lobby, which like my floor, or the floor I was on rather as I didn't really own it, was dark, empty and quiet. I looked up ahead of me through the glass doors that lead outside to the parking lot. There I noticed two things:  
  
1. It looked like there was some sort of accident outside, because there was a car with shattered windows out front.  
  
2. People! A group of hospital employees were leaning over something on their knees. I figured there was probably an injured person they were trying to get on a stretcher or something.  
  
I felt a swarm of relief in my chest and I walked over to the automatic doors which were open, then to the set of manual doors that lead outside, pushed them open and stepped over to the employees. I recognized Mary as one of them. She still had her pretty black hair in a ponytail.  
  
"Well there you guys are," I said with a friendly tone in my voice, setting my right hand on my hip as I held my left arm against my ribs. "I figured something happened when I woke up. Was there a blackout or something?"  
  
Mary was the first to raise her head, acknowledging my prescence. Then a few others looked up and they all turned towards me. What I saw made me jump back in horror. Their lips were all trimmed in blood but it wasn't theirs. They had no visible wounds on their mouths. Then their eyes...their eyes...they were different. Not like a human's, but slightly different. Their pupils were nothing bit small pinpricks of black, almost non existant. I took a look down at what had their attention and cupped a hand over my mouth and turned away, to keep from vomiting. I was looking at the body of a man which had been torn open like he was attacked by a pack of wild dogs. But after putting two and two together I came to realization that it wasn't dogs or any animal that attacked him. It was the employees that did. They had killed him, and were eating him until I interupted. I turned back to them with a look of shock and disgust. They were now rising to their feet and beginning to come towards me, slowly.  
  
"Wh--what the hell is wrong with you people?" I choked out and stepped away from them. The sound of tearing flesh caught my ears and I looked towards the car with broken windows where a pair of legs were sticking out of the passenger side, a woman's. Probably the guy's wife. I felt my stomach turn when another employee of the hospital, this one a doctor in a white coat, raised up into view, holding remaints of a nearly completed yet unborn child. I quickly turned away, feeling it difficult to not vomit right there. Instead I gave a disgusted cry and turned back to the advancing employees. "Stay back!" I raised my voice and took a few steps away. They kept coming, walking slowly, more like shuffling or staggering. I got a good look at them now and noted some sort of damage to their bodies. Mary had lost a chunk out of the side of her neck. Another employee, a male, had deep scratch marks to his face and throat, and one of the others was actually missing an eye and the flesh from his left cheek. What boggled me the most is how could they have survived attacks like this? Especially Mary, since I knew damage to the jugular caused one to bleed alot, which she had earlier, the large wet, bloody area on her shirt gave that away, along with the blood of the victim she had been...feasting on.  
  
I continued retreating until I felt a pair of cold fleshy hands grab me around the back of the neck and a pair of teeth pressing down on my jacket at the shoulder but not through it. On reaction, I jerked around and drove an elbow into the attacker's head and knocked them off of me, then stepped away from them, almost tripping. This one was a security gaurd which had come from around the corner, accompanied by another six or seven, crazy- eyed lunatics. It was then that the only thought I could think of next, was one word, "Run!" and I did. I spun around and ran as fast as my legs and condition would carry me. My ribs hurt from my fast breathing, causing me to cradle my wrapped arm against it, along with my other hand over it to try and stop the pain. I ran out of the parking lot and out into the street where something else stopped me. The whole surrounding enviroment. I looked around in horror. As must as the sudden amount of trash and papers spilt across the streets, the sight of crashed and tipped over vehicles, some smudged with blood, just left me in a frozen state of fear. What in the hell happened here? What the hell was going on? A sound snapped me out of my daze, an odd groan and I turned to the parking lot where the two groups of numbered employees of the hospital had now combined into one, turning seven and five into twelve. Twelve cannibals with pale skin, odd wounds and eerie eyes. That's all I could put together at the moment, and I wasn't about to stick around to ask more questions. I picked a random direction, left, and went back to running. I looked back to see if they were following me. They were, but still keeping up their lazy, pace, giving me an advantage in which I made a large distance between us in no time. I turned back ahead to keep my eyes on where I was going.  
  
I ran through the streets a good five minutes, just to be safe. Finally, I grew tired and came to a stop, panting heavily and took a seat on the curb where finally, I let out a sickening gag and vomited onto the side of the street, what I had eaten the afternoon before. I wiped my mouth and leaned up against a telephone pole, closing my eyes as I let out a distressed moan of anguish. I had never seen anything like what I saw back at the hospital before. These murders Mary told me about..back when she was alive..weren't just from cannibals. Cannibals don't walk with gaping wounds and similar eyes. I, of course, failed to regard the fact that maybe the eyes were fake and a sign of them being members of some gang. I shook my head and banged the back of it lightly on the pole. 'Don't be stupid Clive' I thought to myself, 'You know that's not it. These people aren't humans. They're fucking monsters!' A distant groan, similar to the ones the once 'friendly' employees at the hospital had made, caught my ears. It wasn't that close but it made me uncomfortable to I rose to my feet and began to walk in the opposite direction but stopped again after just a few feet and looked to the side at something that got my attention. A newspaper. I don't know how I noticed it amongst all the other papers scattered about, but I did. I walked over to it and picked it up hesitantly, afraid to touch it because of the blood stains. I gasped in disbelief at the headline. It couldn't really be true, but it was there as plain as day, in black and white, with a black and white photo of similar looking people walking all in one crowd. I dropped the paper to the ground and rubbed my eyes, feeling tears of fear coming as I started to walk on again, thinking about what the words had said. Three simple words, that made me even more afraid to be near these...things. Clear as day, I read it and did not mistake the words, 'The Dead Walk!' 


	4. Chapter 3: More survivors, a greater dan...

Nightfall rolled around eventually and I made a concious note to be extra careful. I kept hidden from plain view as best I could, traveling through alleyways and what not. The last thing I wanted to do was be seen by one of those cannibalistic monsters, or worse--more than one of them. I had, occasionally, caught sight of them though. Here and there I couldn't help notice them staggering about, slowly through the streets, groaning with hunger for fresh, raw flesh off someone's back. I just hoped it wouldn't turn out to be mine. As I walked I prayed I wasn't the only one alive around here, the only...human.  
  
I really wanted to find somebody else. Being alone in a zombie infested city didn't make my boat float for one thing, and then there was the fact that I had nothing to protect myself with. Nothing, that is except for a long piece of wood. Okay, fine I'll call it a stick but it was a strong one, something I figured I could knock those maggot heads around with. But the most uneasiest thing of all was the dead silence of everything around me. Only the wind and the hungry groaning and moaning of zombies close and far greeted my ears as I walked the streets. That was until I heard it. It wasn't too close nor was it too far. It was close enough for me to tell where it came from and it tore through the silence almost instantly -- BOOM! An explosion. There was no mistake about it. I'd heard the sound a billion times in my favorite movies, but now this was reality and something exploded about a block away from me. I didn't think it was safe to go see, but curiousity got the best of me and I headed in the direction from where it came. As I neared the spot, I heard the familiar crackling sound of a burning fire. A large one at that. Amongst that I heard voices. They were faint but I could make out the words just briefly of a man.  
  
"Head to the station! I'll meet you there!"  
  
I kept on heading for the source until I was cut off by the flat side of a picket fence. You know, the side without the support beams? Which meant I couldn't climb over and investigate. All I heard were gunshots and a few groans of zombies on the other side of the fence. I couldn't make it over to call for whoever was there but perhaps he could hear me if I was loud enough. So I banged on the fence and called out.  
  
"Hey! Hey!!!" No use. I heard whoever it was run off down the alley and kicked the fence. "Shit!!" All I heard then were the groans of still, standing zombies that the guy hadn't bothered to kill. Then there was the other groan, the closer groan, the one right behind me. I whirled around into the face of death and saw a large male zombie heading right for me. I tried to step back but forgot that it was a dead end and I backed up into the fence. I was trapped. Great. I raised up my makeshift club and watched the walking corpse come right for me. He was a hideous thing to look at. Puss and blood dripped slowly out of a gaping hole in his throat and more from the corner of his mouth. The flesh from his top lip had been eaten away, leaving him with a permanent grin of death. His teeth parted, opening his mouth as he groaned hungrily again, out stretching his pale hands, the veins visible, and attempted to grab me. I drew my stick back, ready to swing. BLAM! A gunshot cut through the air and my face was splattered with skull fragments and coagulated blood. The zombie fell to his knees and face down...er...fell forward to the ground dead. Excuse my correction but come to think of it, after that gunshot he had no face anymore. I kept my eyes closed as I stood there, finally having the concious mind to wipe my face of the disgusting left overs of the zombie's head. "Fuckin' sick..." was all I could say and opened my eyes to see if I could get a glimpse at the shooter. There he was, right infront of me, looking as scared and shaky as I felt. Only he had a gun, and I had a friggin four foot piece of wood that probably came from the frame of an old bed. Hell I didn't know and it didn't matter. The guy looked young, probably in his early twenties. His yellow vest and green camo pants were stained here and there with blood and he was holding his side in pain.  
  
"You okay kid?" The guy asked me in a shaky tone. He didn't look like he had ahold of himself. I simply nodded.  
  
"What about you? You look banged up." I said, trying to sound nice about it.  
  
The man cracked a small smile. "I'll be fine, but not for long if I stick around here." He said and looked around as if seeing if he was followed, then looked back at me. "Stay safe kid." He said and turned to leave, starting to run with a limp. I stood still for a moment, wondering what the hell just happened then ran to catch up with him.  
  
"Hey wait a minute!" I caught up with him and he stopped, turning towards me, looking anxious to get away from something. I stopped infront of him and leaned on the stick I still carried. "You save my life and then decide you're gonna run off and leave me with a piece of lumber? What the fuck kinda cop are you?" I said, pointing to the patch on his vest that said RPD. He grunted in pain and scowled at me.  
  
"I'm Brad Vickers, RPD, S.T.A.R.S and if you wanna stay alive, you won't follow me." He said and turned, starting to weakly run away again.  
  
"I think you got it backwards, man. You're the one with the gun!" I said and started to follow him again but he turned around and stuck his weapon right in my face.  
  
"Look kid!" He raised his voice, his hand with the gun shaking. "I'm not the guy you wanna be around right now! Kendo's gun shop isn't far from here, you want a gun? Find one there, but don't follow--"  
  
"Grrraaaaaaaarrrgghhh!!!!!!!!"  
  
Brad gasped and looked up behind me far off and a look of fear came over his face as did mine. I looked behind me and felt my face grow cold and pale. It was the most terrifying sound I had ever heard in my life. It wasn't that close but it sounded too close to not worry about what made it, yet I didn't wanna find out what did.  
  
"Shit! See what I mean kid?!" Brad said from behind me and I heard him turn and take off running. I had the same idea and turned around, running after him as fast as I could. As I caught up behind him, he took a glance back and cried out. "Don't follow me kid, get outta here!" This time his voice had concern, as if he was worried about my well being but I stayed with him. Once again he urged me to go. "Go, kid! He'll kill you too!" I had no idea who 'He' was, but like I felt when I heard that terrible roar, I didn't really want to find out. The way I saw it, I was safest with Brad. He had the gun, like I said. We cut through an alley, together, Brad ahead of me by a few feet and ran right past an alleyway cut off by a fire and continued down the other way. Although he was wounded, he was older, in better shape and probably did alot more running as a cop that I ever did, so he was faster, not to mention I too was still a little banged up. He collided with a door, knocking it open and I saw him continue running. I followed through the door, and hung a left after him, heading towards a large site of a wreck. Brad ignored it and made way for a gate. I stopped for a moment and caught sight of the sign above it. Racoon City Police Department. 'Thank God!' I thought and ran for it as Brad went through the gate. I didn't get that much further from where I stopped before I heard Brad's voice cry out with a blood curdling scream. And shortly after that--  
  
"Grraaaaaaarrrrgghh!!!"  
  
That roar again. I grit my teeth together, frozen in fear as I heard Brad faintly calling for help, then his voice suddenly cut off and I knew he was gone. Dead. Whatever it was that made that sound had gotten him. Okay, so zombies weren't the only thing I had to worry about. There was something else in the city and it just killed one of the only other survivors I positively knew about. My little stick wasn't gonna do a damn thing, I figured. I need to find a gun. After what seemed like forever, I turned and ran the other way. I wasn't about to go check out the police station if there was something dangerous there. I made way for a door across from the one Brad and I had come out of. I tried it. Locked. I cried out in frustration and kicked it then headed back through the other door and headed back through where I had followed Brad and made it back to the alley that blocked me off from where I heard the explosion. I was going to make it over that fence, so help me God. Maybe, I thought, I could find out where that other survivor went, if he wasn't already dead. I reached the fence and let it run through my mind how to get over something taller than I was. After a moment, I felt like slapping myself in the face when I saw it. The dumpster, you idiot! I don't know why I didn't think of it before. I set the stick on top of the dumpster and with all my strength, managed to push it up against the fence. Why I still had that damn stick I don't know. I guess I felt somewhat safe to have what could be remotely used as a weapon with me. I climbed over the fence, using the horizontal beams as steps and climbed down on the other side, then looked over to examine the fire from the explosion. It looked like a large wreck from a gas tanker and some cars. Deep down, I hoped that nobody was still inside one of them and made my way out into the street carefully, and I saw them. Two zombies, making their way towards me from the fire. I shook my head in thought. 'Sorry guys but if you want dinner, you're gonna have to move alot faster.' I turned and jogged down the only street that was there, so obviously that survivor had to have gone down this way. I slowed to a stop when I saw the windows of a building shattered and stopped right infront of the Kendo Gun Shop. What a coincidence, I said to myself, as Brad told me to come here looking for a gun.  
  
I stared down at the scene of a mangled civilian laying near the door. A few feet from his body were three more deader looking corpses. Each with a hole in their head. Zombies? I didn't know. From the way they looked, they were, due to the torn flesh on their necks and chests. Placing a hand over my mouth and nose, I stepped inside, careful not to step in any blood. Not that I was worried about it getting on my shoes, but it just freaked me out. Once inside, I lowered my hand from my face and took a look at my surroundings. There was still a good deal of stuff left and I figured the dead guy was the owner. As sorry as I felt for him, he wouldn't need any of this stuff anymore, but then I couldn't carry EVERYTHING of course. But I would make sure to stock up what I could, and I had to do it fast, because I knew the two walking corpses coming down the street weren't about to wait, and on top of that, I didn't want to stay in that place much longer than I had to.  
  
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Sorry for the wait. I could have had this chapter up awhile ago. I hope this is a good chapter, I sort of rushed it a bit because I wanted to get it done. I don't think the part of Clive meeting Brad for such a short while was necessary but I wanted to add in some suspense to build up for later. Please R/R with your thoughts and if you have any suggestions what- so-ever, I'm very open to them. Thanks! 


	5. Chapter 4: Armed, alone, and searching

I had the gun in my hand..or rather tucked under my arm..and was looking frantically through the shelves and cabinets for boxes of bullets to go with it. Surely there had to be some left at least. I had my hands on the only gun I could find without wasting too much time as the two zombies approached the store from behind. I could hear their feet shuffling across the gravel, their hungry cries. And I was the prey--that is if I didn't find the right ammunition first. 'C'mon damn it, 410 shotgun rounds--AHA!" The 410 was one of the five guns I was familiar with, along with the 9mm Beretta, .22 Rifle, .38 Revolver and .33 Winchester. It was a type of gun that my uncle that lived in Texas owned, and gave me the chance to shoot cinder blocks and milk jugs as targets with. I could have used a better gun for the situation but as I said before, it's all I could manage to find in the hurry I was in.  
  
I grabbed the box of shells out of the upper cabinet and slapped it on top of the counter, or rather inside the counter on the velvet surface where I figured a wide supply of handguns was once available but it seemed all of it was gone now. I lowered myself to one knee and removed the slot of shells from the box. Then, struggling some, as I was never really a strong person, I bent the rifle open to reveal the bullet opening and pulled a shell from the box, slipped it in, and struggling again, closed it with a loud CLICK. A hopeful, relieved grin played across my lips. Cocking the gun wasn't needed as it was a single shot, and needed reloading after every single round spent -- the only real downfall of the gun I could think of when you need quick thinking and fast responses.  
  
"Grruungh..."  
  
I looked up finally. My two "amigos" finally decided to show their ugly, rotten, decaying faces and stepped inside the gun shop -- one through the already shattered window, and the other clumsily busting through the glass door like it was nothing, both coming at me with outstretched hands and hungry expressions, ready to turn me into their next meal. 'But that isn't going to happen,' said I, 'not now, but hopefully not ever.' I raised the rifle, bracing the end of it against my shoulder and curled my finger around the trigger. One of the zombies had closed the distance between us to just a few feet, reaching out his pale, smelly, rotten fingers towards me. Gritting my teeth, I braced myself for the familiar sound of thunder this weapon I had was going to make.  
  
I squeezed the trigger slowly, and BOOM! All sound was drowned out for a split second from the sound of the gun and the shot hit the ugly bastard right in the chest, throwing him back, causing him to lose his footing after our distance became wider, and fell to the floor off balance. I turned my attention to the other one who was at the same distance the first one had been when I fired on him. Keeping my gaze locked on him, actually locking my blue eyes with his pale green ones that showed a deep, blood thirsty hunger, I bent the rifle open again and plucked out the spent shell, tossing it aside and slipped in a fresh one, then bent it back in place and raised it again in the same fashion I had before. I bit my lip, bracing myself again for the loud sound. I fired again, and the loud clap of thunder from the weapon sounded again  
  
Square in the heart that time, and he was thrown back and to the floor. I slapped the counter with a grin beginning to play on my face, and I felt a laugh of relief coming but never reached that far, as my mood changed to shock. The first zombie, followed by a few second interval with the second one, sat up, seemingly unphased. And now, also sitting up, was the more fresher mangled corpse of the gun shop owner, who turned towards me and started rising to his feet to join his two new dinner partners in their persuit towards me. 'How the hell can they be standing?! I-i-I shot them! With a damn shotgun!" I gave a cry of disbelief and grabbed my box of shells, having eighteen now, as one box held twenty. I wasn't going to stay and fight these three with my inexperience and how this firearm had to be prepared. Rising quickly to my feet I dodged to the side just as the first zombie I shot lunged over the low counter between us and reached for me. His decaying nails scraped across the wooden cabinet behind me and cracked at their brittleness. The other two turned towards me and groaned as I made way for the back door to the shop. Wasting no time, I tucked the gun under my arm and twisted the door knob, hurrying out and slammed it behind me, shifted the gun back to my hand, holding it in between the base of the barrel and the handle and ran as fast as I could from the back of the shop. My mind gradually drifted back to why I came this way -- the survivor -- I need to find him..or her..I assumed it was a 'him' as I thought I'd heard a male's voice when I first arrived. I cut down the alley, through a basketball court, in which I briefly got a glimpse of two dead nasties. Next was a trip up some stairs, across a walkway and down another flight of metal stairs, my shoes causing gradual paced 'dunk dunk dunk' with each step I took. This lead me to a dumpster in which I hopped over and wound up in another alley, with yet three more, dead corpses that once walked and searched for living flesh. I stepped through a metal gate door, and out into a destroyed parking lot, and across the way was another threat to me.  
  
Four dead zombies lay sprawled between two crashed cars, dressed in formal wear, or at least I assumed they were zombies, and that the now walking, mauled, police man making his way towards me about thirty feet away was once their victim. I was alerted to the lone corpses's prescence by a hungry moan. I kept my gaze on him and bent the rifle open, emptying out the useless round and dug through my right pocket for one of the six shells I stuffed in there, once I thought it was safe to stop running from my attackers in the gun shop. I'd stuffed six in each side pocket and three each in my back pockets. I know it seems a complicated way to store bullets but they aren't exactly small and I didn't want my movement hindered. I slipped it into the weapon and snapped it shut, getting use to it's resistance now and aimed the rifle at my new opposer. I didn't want to miss him and waste the shot, so keeping my aim, I approached him, until I was only a few feet away. Then I stopped, braced myself, and fired. His chest was speckled with new, coagulated blood, and he fell against one of the cars into a sitting position, growling hungrily at me. I didn't waste another minute, and ran passed him, feeling his filthy hands brush against my leg but that was all. The only way to continue was through a wrecked bus. The door was open. I went in and my eyes widened at the inside. A horrific sight of blood and bodies everywhere, in the seats, in the aisle, blood on the windows. I heard movement and the now familiar snarling of a zombie. My heart skipped a beat as I turned towards the source and began to fumble in reloading the rifle but stopped as I noticed the zombie was simply thrashing around violently trying to get out of her seat, yes it was a female. She actually had only been a few years younger than me and I could tell in her time of being alive, she was a pretty young woman with dark brown hair in a purple blouse and a pair of black shorts. As a zombie, she was a rotting corpse, trying her best to get up but couldn't seem to get her seat belt off. She acted as if she didn't even know it was restraining her. Her pale, veiny arms thrashed about, banging against the walls and seat. I felt my panick go away and calmly reloaded my rifle and made my way out the other side of the bus, ignoring her hisses and snarls. As I stepped out, I sighed and wiped the sweat from my face, and took a moment to buckle my cap on one of my belt rings of my pants. It was becoming a hassle for my vision. From where I stood then, there wasn't much to look at. A wall on my left, a wrecked firetruck to my right, burning away with flames that slowly ate away the red paint and on the street, several dead firemen zombies. I felt I was on the right trail of that survivor, so I walked passed the bodies and stepped through a green, metal gate and looked up at the building, and the letters that caught my eye. Fear rushed back into my system as the not so old memory of Brad, running into another entrance of this place and being killed, came back to me. I thought of what made that terrible sound, and what also killed him. I didn't know if the creature was still there or not, and I didn't want to find out, yet there was nowhere else to run. The survivor, I thought, had to be there. But there I was, all alone, in the court yard...of the Racoon City Police Department.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------- End of chapter 4. I hope everyone likes where this story is going. Please R/R! I like the reviews I'm getting so far, they're really inspiring me to write with the nice comments. If anyone has anymore suggestions, as I said, I'm open to hear them. 


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